Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

We are now witnessing firsthand one of the most cynical, disingenuous, and Misleading fund-raising campaigns ever to be launched by a radical environmental group. Center stage in their campaign is Rep. George Miller’s H.R. 3663, the Wolves are Cute Act, which would end the State of Alaska’s Aerial Predator Management Program. Contrary to what the bill’s supporters and their friends in the animal fund-raising community would like you to believe, the Program H.R. 3663 seeks to eliminate is not “aerial hunting.” It is a necessary wildlife management tool which ensures the State continues to have a healthy, viable population of wolves while making certain that these extremely efficient predators to do not threaten the availability of caribou, moose and other wildlife species on which thousands of rural and Native Alaskans depend for survival.

In their efforts to muster support for H.R. 3663 while raising thousands of dollars in donations, Defenders of Wildlife have been busy inundating unsuspecting Americans throughout the country with emotional photos and inaccurate information about Alaska’s Predator Control Program. As a result, I’m sure some of you have heard from misinformed constituents urging you to cosponsor Mr. Miller’s bill, and this week members from the Defenders of Wildlife will likely pay you a personal visit to follow up on their donors’ calls.

As Alaska’s sole Representative in the House, I appreciate the opportunity to Provide you with some of the many reasons why NOT to support H.R. 3663:

---The State’s predator control program is a State issue, not a Federal issue.

---The State program H.R. 3663 aims to eliminate is not “hunting.” It Is necessary predator control used to ensure the security of the food sources on which wolves prey and thousands of rural and Native Alaskans depend for survival. As Governor Sarah Palin explained in her letter to George Miller: “Our science-driven and abundance-based predator management program enlists volunteers permitted to use aircraft to kill some predators in specified areas of the State where we are trying to increase opportunities for Alaskans to put healthy food on their families’ dinner tables."

---Because Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas, but has fewer miles of paved roads than Rhode Island, aircraft are the only efficient means of managing the State’s wolves. And because this is not “hunting," issues of “fair chase” do not apply.

---Your state may be next. H.R. 3663 is a direct threat to the constitutionally guaranteed state sovereignty over wildlife management not just for Alaska, but all states.

Fellow colleagues, Alaskans are suffering from an overabundance of wolves.

The Predator Control Program that H.R. 3663 would eliminate is essential to minimizing the threat wolves pose to the nutritional well-being of thousands of rural and Native Alaskans, not to mention the lives of pet dogs.

I propose a solution that should satisfy all parties concerned:

Since the sponsor of H.R. 3663 seems to have such a deep love for wolves, and now that the Defenders of Wildlife have raised well over $100,000 on the animals' behalf, I propose that Defenders use that money to gather Alaska’s surplus wolves and safely transport them to the seventh district of California.

This proposal is a win-win for everyone, and I would suggest my colleagues present it to Defenders of Wildlife representatives roaming the Capitol this week.

Changes could simplify killing of wolves in Wyoming New federal wolf management rules expected by Jan. 28 will make it easier to kill problem predators in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming even if lifting Endangered Species Act protections in February is stalled by lawsuits. Environmental groups said such rule changes could lead to unwarranted killing of wolves. Wolf recovery officials said one big reason for expanding the options for killing wolves is that officials expect the removal of federal protections, planned for Feb. 28, to prompt lawsuits from groups such as Defenders of Wildlife. If litigation delays or blocks the lifting of the federal protections, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming want as much flexibility as possible to decide when to kill wolves that are eating too many elk and deer or attacking hunting dogs. "It's just basically a safety valve that we can use if we have to," Steve Nadeau, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's top wolf manager, said Wednesday. Last year, Wyoming's lawmakers made expanding these rules a condition of going along with the federal plan to lift protections from wolves....Wisconsin looks at timber wolf hunt Outdoorsmen will be asked this spring whether the state should set a hunting season for timber wolves, whose numbers are rebounding here even though the species is endangered in most other states. As many as 575 timber wolves roam the north woods and the population is growing about 12 percent annually, the state Department of Natural Resources estimates. The state's management strategy calls for hunting if the population exceeds 350 animals. The state now allows landowners to trap problem wolves and shoot them if they're in the act of attacking a pet or livestock. In 2007, three wolves were shot and 37 trapped and euthanized, the DNR says. The Conservation Congress, a citizens' advisory group to Natural Resources board members, wants a permanent solution, said Ed Harvey, the group's chairman. It will pose a question to its members on April 14 whether a hunting season should be set, and will pass its recommendations along to the DNR or lawmakers. Grouse hunter Ron Waller of Eagle River said wolves are all over his part of the state, and a face-to-face encounter with a wolf ruined one hunt last fall. If the state doesn't act now, he said, "People are just going to start taking things in their own hands."....Territorial fight turns ugly along Delta It's enough to give city folk the shivers: Seven dead coyotes, slung over a barbed-wire fence in a farmer's field on Lower Roberts Island. Just down the road, Kent Kiefer explains the mystery: His cousin, farmer Rod Dement, lost his Jack Russell terrier last summer to a hungry coyote. Dement, who used to carry his little dog everywhere, has been hunting coyotes since. "They're all over," Kiefer said. "It's unbelievable, man." Meanwhile, north of Stockton, veterinarian John Lindsey forces four antibiotic pills down the throat of his pet emu, Olivia. She left a trail of feathers all over his field one night last week as a pack of coyotes chased her and snapped at her legs. Venture past Stockton city limits and you'll find plenty of rural residents with tales such as these. Despite 200 years of intense shooting and trapping, coyotes are more numerous today than when the Constitution was signed....With predator populations rising, more calls for control Around the West and in various ways, efforts to wage war on wildlife predators are increasing. Some examples: ranchers and environmentalists are fighting over a proposal to have the Environmental Protection Agency ban the use of two poisons that kill coyotes. A successful wolf-reintroduction program means wolves are likely to be taken off the endangered species list soon, and critics of removal say this would leave them vulnerable to indiscriminate shooting, particularly in Idaho and Wyoming. And here in Oregon, hunters soon may be deputized to kill cougars, whose population has grown from several hundred in the 1960s to about 5,000 since the use of radio-collared dogs to hunt them was banned in 1994. While there is no direct connection, collectively these issues reflect the tension between rural Westerners involved in ranching, farming, and logging, and those in growing urban and recreational areas where people are more likely to have a friendlier attitude toward wildlife. In all cases, wild species' need for adequate habitat is competing against human interests....Man injured by coyote killer sparks outrage, EPA probe The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun an investigation into the poisoning four years ago of a Vernal man who touched what he thought was a survey stake, only to get a blast of sodium cyanide to his face and chest. The cyanide device, called an M-44, is used by the federal government to kill predators. The poisoning has left Dennis Slaugh with severe multiple health problems, his wife, Dorothy Slaugh, said Thursday. And it has reignited a campaign to ban all predator poisoning on federal lands. EPA investigator Michael Burgin visited the Slaugh home Monday for a two-hour meeting, which Slaugh said she taped with Burgin's knowledge. The special investigator was looking into why federal agencies did not follow up on the Slaughs' original reports, she said. Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon pushed for the investigation at the request of Predator Defense, a national wildlife advocacy group based in Eugene, Ore. Dennis Slaugh and his brother were riding all-terrain vehicles on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in Cowboy Canyon near Bonanza in 2003 when Slaugh noticed what he thought was a survey stake. He reached to brush it off and it fell over. When he picked it up, it exploded, sending a cloud of orange granules into his nose, mouth and eyes....Slug-Gun Lessons Wild hogs tend to be nomadic; they'll go wherever food sources dictate. Because hogs are omnivorous, however, that "food source" can be just about anything; from tubers and roots to grain fields and acorns; they'll devour fallen fruit and newly hatched turkey poults; they'll chew on carrion and come right up into your backyard to mow over your vegetable garden. They eat anything and everything, period. Wild and free (and unbound by most fencing), hogs make for a wonderful game animal. Left unchecked, however, they quickly become a nuisance. Due to this obstinacy, farmers, ranchers and other land managers throughout the South, parts of the lower Midwest, the Southwest and California pursue hogs with vigor. Fortunately for us hunters, that means there is always opportunity to hunt them. I've shot hogs with bows and bullets throughout California and Texas, and I'd thought I'd seen everything. That is, until I accepted an invite last fall from former Hunting staffer Joe Coogan....NM Game & Fish concerned with BLM handling of wildlife protections The director of the New Mexico Game and Fish Department is asking the Bureau of Land Management to take another look at how it handles seasonal closures and restrictions designed to protect wildlife from being disturbed by oil and gas drilling. The BLM has come under fire in recent months for approving hundreds of waivers to the protective restrictions in the Farmington and Carlsbad areas. Critics contend that BLM field offices are approving the waivers without due consideration or public comment. Now, Game and Fish director Bruce Thompson wants his agency and the BLM to jointly review the criteria used to determine whether waivers should be granted. He also asks that the BLM cooperate with Game and Fish when waiver requests are received. "The Department of Game and Fish and state Game Commission are becoming increasingly concerned with recent assertions regarding the number and frequency of exceptions to wildlife protective restrictions that are being approved by the Farmington field office," Thompson wrote in a Jan. 10 letter to BLM state director Linda Rundell....Mine or yours - Let’s reform the 1872 Mining Law—finally Like many Westerners, I grew up with the luxury of unlimited adventure outdoors. I could wander around, fishing rod in hand, looking for the next hidden pond near my family’s cabin in northern Colorado. That was before I began working in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado as a mountain guide for a kids’ camp. I’ll never forget the first time I ran across a copper-colored creek in the Animas River watershed. I stopped and stared because it was strangely beautiful at first. I failed to grasp that the water had turned that brilliant color because acid waste was draining into it from a mine abandoned at the turn of the century. Certainly, no trout could survive in those waters, and I could only guess how far down the mountain the stream carried its poison. But I’ve never been opposed to mining, and I understand how the Gold Rush of the late 1800s helped define the state I was born in. Mining for metals brought people, towns and railroads, leading President Ulysses Grant to declare Colorado a state in 1876. But while Colorado is undeniably still tied to mining, times have changed, and the General Mining Law of 1872 that gives mining priority over all other land uses is way past due for revision. Fully recognizing that this outdated law is to blame for much of the damage to our public lands, many of America’s sportsmen have set their sights on reforming the 1872 law....High-flow experiment proposed to improve Grand Canyon resources An experiment using high flows from Glen Canyon Dam to study and improve Colorado River resources in Grand Canyon National Park has been proposed by the Department of the Interior. The goal of the experiment is to better understand whether higher flows can be used to rebuild eroded beaches downstream of Glen Canyon Dam by moving sand accumulated in the riverbed onto sandbars. Grand Canyon sandbars provide habitat for wildlife, serve as camping beaches for recreationists, and supply sand needed to protect archaeological sites. High flows also create areas of low-velocity flow, or backwaters, used by young native fishes, particularly endangered humpback chub. The 2008 test would be different than previous high-flow tests conducted in 1996 and 2004. In particular, scientists have concluded that more sand is needed to rebuild sandbars throughout the 277-mile reach of Grand Canyon National Park than was available in 1996 or 2004. Currently, sand supplies in the river are at a 10-year high with a volume about three times greater than the volume available in 2004 due to tributary inflows below the dam over the past 16 months. The proposed experiment is dependent on the completion of environmental review processes required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act....White Sands celebrates monumental anniversary It was Jan. 18, 1933 — 75 years ago today — and President Herbert Hoover was two days away from turning his Depression-wracked presidency over to Franklin Roosevelt. One of his last acts was to sign a document regarding a patch of land in New Mexico, a state that had just turned 21. That patch of land is now known as White Sands National Monument and Hoover's signature established it as part of the National Park Service. Saturday, visitors can help celebrate the monument's 75th anniversary with some special events, including multiple showings of a 1938 promotional film for the monument....Bush officials say oil drilling will not harm polar bears US officials defended plans for oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska, telling lawmakers that it would not harm polar bears, already threatened by global warming. Randall Luthi, director of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, which sells oil drilling rights, told Congress Thursday that the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act provides adequate safeguards to polar bears from oil exploration accidents such as oil spills. In addition, he said, contracts with oil companies include measures to minimize the impact such activities can have on the polar bear population. "We believe adequate protection exists," he told the House of Representatives special committee on global warming. The US government estimates crude oil reserves under the Chukchi Sea at 15 billion barrels. Representative Edward Markey demanded polar bears be declared a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming prior to the sale of oil drilling rights in the Chukchi Sea, scheduled for February 6. If not, "we will be accelerating the day when the polar bear will be extinct," he said....Wildlife groups, energy firms debate development This weekend in Great Falls, hunting groups, wildlife managers and others will raise the alarm about how runaway oil-and-gas development in Montana could have a huge effect on wildlife. "As we looked at this issue more and more, and what's occurred in Wyoming and Colorado, we (thought), 'We don't want to be like them,' " said Craig Sharpe, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation. "We don't want the large footprint, the damage that has occurred in Wyoming." Yet oil-and-gas industry officials - some of whom will attend Saturday's symposium sponsored by the federation - wonder what the big deal is. They agree that Montana could see more oil-and-gas development in the coming years. But they say it's not likely to be anywhere near the scale of Wyoming's gas boom - and therefore, Montana shouldn't rush into new restrictions to protect wildlife from something that isn't going to happen....U.S. opts not to plan for jaguar recovery There will be no recovery plan, at least not one with teeth, for the rarest of the wild animals native to Arizona — the largest and rarest cat species of North America — the jaguar. The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group that has pushed for an official plan to set goals and spell out and enforce efforts to save the big cats, portrays the move as a concession to the Bush administration's border-fence project. But a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwestern Region maintains that a formal plan wouldn't help the big cats, and the lack of one won't damage the federal agency's ongoing support of less-official efforts to protect the jaguar. The official stand against a recovery plan was spelled out in a Jan. 7 memo signed by the agency's director, Dale Hall. The jaguar was put on the federal endangered-species list in 1997. By some accounts, it once ranged as far west and north as the Monterey Bay coast and east to the Appalachian Mountains. But it has rarely been seen in recent decades, and then only barely north of the U.S.-Mexico border, usually in Arizona or New Mexico. Since it was listed as endangered, only four jaguars — all males — have been confirmed alive in Arizona. And those were thought to be border crossers from a dwindling, but larger, population in northern Mexico....Feds may slash butterfly habitat in half Federal wildlife officials Thursday proposed slashing by almost half the amount of land they designated earlier as "critical habitat" for the Quino checkerspot butterfly, one of Southern California's most endangered animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed reducing the amount of land targeted for special treatment under the Endangered Species Act from 172,000 acres to 98,000 acres. Officials said the revision was necessary to focus on saving those areas where significant butterfly populations still exist. As in the past, the agency's strategy for saving the insect focuses solely on Southwest Riverside County and the Otay Mountain area of southern San Diego County ---- the only known places where the butterfly still lives. However, in both counties acreages have been shaved substantially. And the wildlife agency said it is considering trimming it more by eliminating 37,000 acres in Riverside County because that acreage already is covered by a multibillion-dollar regional habitat conservation plan that aims to protect the Quino....Plan calls for killing sea lions at Bonneville Dam Federal officials have called for killing about 30 sea lions near Bonneville Dam each year to keep them from gobbling a rising share of Northwest salmon that the government spends millions of dollars to protect. The National Marine Fisheries Service released the proposal Thursday in response to a request from Oregon and Washington for permission to control the marine mammals. The strategy would authorize state officials to shoot or trap and then kill up to 85 California sea lions each year, or as many as necessary so they eat no more than 1 percent of salmon passing through Bonneville Dam. State officials must first try to scare sea lions off and, if that doesn't work, make sure they target only offending sea lions. Biologists estimate that 30 sea lions would be killed annually. Biologists don't know how the sea lions will react to lethal action. Some suspect that the survivors will take a hint and scatter, letting the salmon be. Others suggest that other sea lions will replace those that are killed, forcing the states into a perpetual killing campaign....Ice returns as Greenland temps plummet While the rest of Europe is debating the prospects of global warming during an unseasonably mild winter, a brutal cold snap is raging across the semi-autonomous nation of Greenland. On Disko Bay in western Greenland, where a number of prominent world leaders have visited in recent years to get a first-hand impression of climate change, temperatures have dropped so drastically that the water has frozen over for the first time in a decade. 'The ice is up to 50cm thick,' said Henrik Matthiesen, an employee at Denmark's Meteorological Institute who has also sailed the Greenlandic coastline for the Royal Arctic Line. 'We've had loads of northerly winds since Christmas which has made the area miserably cold.' Matthiesen suggested the cold weather marked a return to the frigid temperatures common a decade ago. Temperatures plunged to -25°C earlier this month, clogging the bay with ice and making shipping impossible for small crafts, according to Anthon Frederiksen, the mayor of the town of Ilulissat, where Disko Bay is located....Animal-human embryo research is approved Experiments to create Britain’s first embryos that combine human and animal material will begin within months after a government watchdog gave its approval yesterday to two research teams to carry out the controversial work. Scientists at King’s College London, and the University of Newcastle will inject human DNA into empty eggs from cows to create embryos known as cytoplasmic hybrids, which are 99.9 per cent human in genetic terms. The experiments are intended to provide insights into diseases such as Parkinson’s and spinal muscular atrophy by producing stem cells containing genetic defects that contribute to these conditions. These will be used as cell models for investigating new approaches to treatment, and to improve the understanding of how embryonic stem cells develop. They will not be used in therapy, and it is illegal to implant them into the womb....Food costs jump 4.9% in 2007; biggest gain since 1990 Inflation truly hit home in 2007 with food prices rising 4.9 percent, the most since 1990, as energy costs for farmers surged and the production of crops, livestock and dairy products failed to keep pace with increased global demand. Dairy prices gained the most of all foods last year, with milk surging 19.3 percent, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Fruits and vegetables increased 5.9 percent and cereal and baked-goods prices rose 5.4 percent. Bread prices jumped 10.5 percent, according to the report. Companies including Kellogg Co. and General Mills Inc., the largest U.S. cereal-producers, boosted prices as the cost of commodities such as wheat reached record highs. One of the driving forces for higher food prices was the rising cost of fuel. Farmers and ranchers, along with transport companies, felt the same pinch that many consumers did in 2007 as energy prices, which include gasoline and diesel fuel, rose 17.4 percent. Ironically, it was the rising price of fuel that also spurred the increased production of corn for ethanol, which caused corn prices to rally even though farmers reported a record crop....Ranch folks who pose at The Dahl Friday to receive a free portrait Want to let the world see what a real South Dakota rancher looks like? Come to The Dahl Arts Center Friday to help in the effort to reveal real ranchers to the rest of the world. You can also view images of other ranchers and their families taken by award-winning photographer Carl Corey. We have all seen movie and TV ranchers. Do they seem like you or ranchers you know? Probably not. Corey is coming to the Dahl to take pictures of real ranchers, ranch couples and families for a new book. If you are not a rancher, but know someone who might be interested, please encourage them to come in for a portrait. Corey has time for 40 ranch folks to be captured in a portrait. The goal of this visual arts project is to allow people to see the real people of South Dakota, the hard-working, often isolated, ranchers that feed the world and add so much to the independent lifestyle of South Dakota....PBS crew to determine if Annie Oakley coin shot is real Local experts were recruited earlier this month to help solve a century-old detective puzzle that will be detailed for a national television audience later this year. A crew from "History Detectives," a PBS show that explores stories behind historical artifacts, came to Cody to find out if a coin owned by a freelance writer from Maine was shot by Annie Oakley during a performance. Producers and host Elyse Luray interviewed scholars at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and others for background on how Oakley might have shot coins, either performing on her own or as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. For years, Oakley was the star attraction of Cody's show, shooting playing cards and glass balls with incredible accuracy. She also performed on her own and often shot coins, which spectators sometimes kept as souvenirs. Hitting a coin mounted on a target from 25 yards away is no easy feat, even for an accomplished sharpshooter. But that's what producers hoped to capture on tape by asking Worland marksman Nick Nickelson to re-create Oakley's trick shot. It took a few tries with his Model 92 Winchester rifle, but Nickelson hit the coin twice during taping at the Cody Stampede Rodeo Grounds....

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Panel urges federal gas-tax hike The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission is urging that federal gasoline taxes be increased by up to 40 cents a gallon over five years to fix the nation's aging infrastructure. The cost, the commission estimates, would be 41 to 66 cents a day - less than the price of a candy bar, one commissioner said - for the average motorist. The two-year study by the 12-member commission is the first to propose broad changes after a devastating bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August shone a spotlight on the deteriorating state of the nation's infrastructure. Undersized plates used in the bridge were "the critical factor" in the collapse, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. In a 10-page dissent to the report, the commission's chairwoman, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, and two other members sharply criticized the proposal for higher gasoline taxes. She and the two commissioners are calling instead for sole reliance on tolls and private investment. Under the proposal, the current tax of 18.4 cents per gallon would be increased by 5 cents to 8 cents annually for five years and then indexed to inflation afterward to help fix the infrastructure, expand public transit and highways as well as broaden railway and rural access. The increase is designed to take effect in 2009, after President Bush leaves office.... Navy Wins Exemption From Bush to Continue Sonar Exercises in Calif. The White House has exempted the Navy from two major environmental laws in an effort to free the service from a federal court's decision limiting the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises. Environmentalists who had sued successfully to limit the Navy's use of loud, mid-frequency sonar -- which can be harmful to whales and other marine mammals -- said yesterday that the exemptions were unprecedented and could lead to a larger legal battle over the extent to which the military has to obey environmental laws. In a court filing Tuesday, government lawyers said President Bush had determined that allowing the use of mid-frequency sonar in ongoing exercises off Southern California was "essential to national security" and of "paramount interest to the United States." Based on that, the documents said, Bush issued the order exempting the Navy from provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality granted the Navy a waiver from the National Environmental Protection Act....Ex-ferret-recovery head blames political pressure for prairie dog decisions The Bush administration has pressured federal resource managers to make decisions that could hurt the black-footed ferret recovery effort in South Dakota's Conata Basin, according to the recently retired head of the federal ferret recovery program. Mike Lockhart, who retired Jan. 3 after 32 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sent an internal memo charging that his former regional director and U.S. Forest Service officials bowed to political pressure in decisions involving ferrets and prairie dogs in South Dakota and elsewhere. Conata Basin, just south of Badlands National Park, is home to the most successful black-footed ferret reintroduction in the country, he said. The project has been a cooperative effort among federal and state agencies and private groups. Lockhart said the ferret population in Conata Basin is still doing well. But he said his former boss with the Fish and Wildlife Service, retired Region 6 Director Mitch King, undercut efforts of the ferret-recovery team....Montana's Black Gold Underneath eastern Montana and western North Dakota lies a thin (in some places, just five feet thick) stratum called the Bakken Formation, which holds a mother lode of Jurassic goo. Pick a statistic or a superlative: The Bakken is the biggest inland oil find in the United States in 50 years or so; it might contain 200 billion barrels of oil, far more than the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge reserve politicians fight about; last year, Montana pumped about 3 million barrels a month out of its side of the Bakken—about 45 times more than the field produced in 2002. Montana’s role in the global scramble for oil is modest, so far. Bakken production covers only a small percentage of U.S. oil consumption. It’s not big enough to make us bosom pals with Saudi sheiks (though there are some wild, as-yet-unsubstantiated geological estimates that it could well be). It has yet to equal the tar-sands jackpot that would make the Province of Alberta the world’s second-richest nation per capita (after Luxembourg) if it seceded from Canada. But it is of unquestionable national importance: In the last few years, Montana and North Dakota are the only states to increase oil-production....Biologists study the shy wolverine in the North Cascades An animal so ferocious that it is said to chase bears and kill elk by hopping on their backs and severing their throats lives in Snohomish County. But don't believe everything you hear about wolverines, experts say. "Wolverines have a longstanding reputation of being particularly fierce and dangerous," said Keith Aubry, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. "They're sort of a mythological creature because they are so often not seen." But in reality, they may be more shy than tough, Aubry said. Petitions to have them listed as a federally endangered species in the late 1990s and early this decade were turned down for a lack of information. Those denials spurred research on the whereabouts of the wolverine in Washington, as well as the northern Rocky Mountain areas of Idaho and Montana. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- acting under the order of a federal judge -- is finishing a year-long assessment of the animal that could lead it to be proposed for listing. A decision likely will be made at the end of February, said Diane Katzenberger, a spokeswoman for the agency....Experts uncover clues to slide Avalanche experts digging into last Sunday's deadly slide north of Whitefish Mountain Resort are turning over not just snowpack and clues, but also many weeks of winter weather history. Turns out, the snowpack conditions that made the weekend avalanche possible were laid down back before Christmas, when winter was warmer and snowstorms still were tangled with rainstorms. All that was needed, then, was a human to pull the trigger these many weeks later. That's according to Stan Bones, a U.S. Forest Service avalanche analyst who also works with the Glacier Country Avalanche Center. At the center's Web site, www.glacieravalanche.org, Bones has posted his official review of the incident in which two skiers were killed - 19-year-old Anthony Kollmann of Kalispell and 36-year-old David Gogolak of Whitefish. On Wednesday, Bones talked about that report, detailing a story that begins not with Sunday's slide, but rather back in December, when the top layers of early season snow melted and later re-froze into an icy sheet....NEPA jobs threatened A proposed “reengineering” by U.S. Forest Service officials could move thousands of agency employees involved in drafting environmental assessments out of the national forests where they work. According to a feasibility report by Management Analysis, Inc., a Virginia-based consulting firm, the “Business Process Reengineering” plan would consolidate all work performed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to six “eco-based Service Centers” instead of individual field offices. At least one group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), sees the plan as a step backwards for the Forest Service that could have far reaching impacts beyond removing employees from their jobs. According to PEER, over 3,000 Forest Service employees have NEPA-related responsibilities to assess the potential consequences of projects in the national forests. For now, the agency hasn’t specified any time frame to implement the plan, and Ruch worries the changes will occur without adequate public notice or close scrutiny....Lynx Pinched by Recreation Finding room for lynx to roam in the wide-open spaces of Montana and Wyoming may not be a huge issue. But in crowded Colorado, researchers are finding that intensive recreational use—especially snowmobiling—is crowding the rare cats out of some critical areas. At issue is the management of the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area (VPWRA), a 50,000-acre pocket of rolling, forested terrain along Interstate 70, between Copper Mountain and Vail. Several commercial snowmobile tour and rental operators have asked the U.S. Forest Service for permission to increase trips in the area. Before issuing any new permits, the agency decided to take a hard look at the overall capacity of the area. As part of that study, White River National Forest biologist Liz Roberts wrote a formal biological assessment, trying to measure and quantify the impacts of recreation to the wildlife habitat in the area. Long story short, Roberts concluded that human activity in the area is “adversely affecting” the cats....Ecological genius played huge role in shaping New Mexico's landscape, environment Fresh out of Yale, where his strong attraction to the outdoors had led him to study forestry, Aldo Leopold arrived in Albuquerque early in July 1909 and began working in the forests of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. His headquarters was in Springerville, Ariz. — a two-day, 85-mile stagecoach ride from where the train would leave him off in Holbrook, Ariz. In these and other forests he later supervised in New Mexico, Leopold observed overgrazing, overstocking, erosion, successions of plants, prey-and-predators relations and the role of fire in a natural setting. These provided the facts, clues and impressions that led him to his final conclusions about the relation between humans, their cultures and the land. An indication of Leopold's awakening understanding occurred during a 1919 horseback inspection trip he made deep into the Gila National Forest, when he resolved to do what he could to keep those forests free of "civilizing" influences, such as roads. His efforts, with some like-minded supporters, resulted in 755,000 acres being set aside by the Forest Service on June 3, 1924, as the Gila Wilderness — the first wilderness area in the country. In 1980, the National Wilderness Preservation System formalized this wilderness and added the contiguous Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Primitive Area.... County faces drop in federal PILT funding An announced 30 percent reduction in payment in lieu of taxes funds comes as Uintah County faces an additional two percent cut in mineral lease funding. In an interview on Monday, county commissioner Mike McKee explained the loss of PILT funds blindsided county officials completely. “Thirty percent reduction in funding will occur in PILT monies,” stated McKee. “The irony is that we just met with Senator Bennett’s office looking to raise our share of PILT funding. We went from seeking full-funding to accepting a significant reduction.” McKee spoke of his disappointment over the Washington meeting where he and Duchesne County commissioner Rod Harrison received assurances that the potential for full-funding was close. “PILT is a static appropriation of $230 million for Pacific Northwest rural schools,” said Bob Widner, Uintah County’s Washington, D.C., lobbyist “A deduction from those monies comes to us as PILT funds.” The reduction in PILT funding came from “a congressional review that determined the Pacific Northwest rural school’s should receive their total entitlement,” Widner said. “That came as the senate failed to pass reauthorization of PILT funding by one vote last month. For us, it translates into a 30 percent reduction in funding.”....Mount St. Helens growls mysteriously As John Pallister circled above Mount St. Helens on Sunday afternoon, a sharply defined line of steam caught his attention. "It was interesting enough to take some pictures," said Pallister, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist and private pilot. He didn't know it, but his USGS colleagues back in Vancouver had already noticed a 2.9-magnitude earthquake followed by a small but unusually long tremor at the steadily erupting volcano. The tremor, in fact, continued for almost an hour and a half, punctuated by a 2.7-magnitude quake. Such tremors typically signal that magma or gases are flowing underground like water in a pipe. The last tremor of note - a 55-minute stemwinder big enough to register on seismometers from Bend, Ore., to Bellingham on Oct. 2, 2004 - prompted the Forest Service to hastily evacuate the Johnston Ridge Observatory five miles north of the crater's mouth....Park Service airs complaint against proposed coal plant The National Park Service says the $3.8 billion, coal-fired power plant that Nevada utilities propose to build near Ely is "unacceptable" because it would damage air and water quality and would interfere with scenic views in the Great Basin National Park. "Like a clean white page, the relatively clear air in the Great Basin can be marred easily," wrote Paul DePrey, park superintendent. DePrey made the comment in a Jan. 9 letter to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in response to the draft air permit the division has issued for the 1,500-megawatt Ely Energy Center. The center is a project of Sierra Pacific Power Co. and Nevada Power Co. The division can issue a final permit without substantial changes in the draft document, amend the permit or deny it after reviewing comments about the power plant....Local mill to close Boise Cascade said Tuesday it will permanently close its sawmill and planer operations at its lumber manufacturing plant near Antelope Road and Agate Road. The operations will be phased out during the next two months and put 32 of the plant's 59 employees out of work. "It's something we've been evaluating for a long time," said Boise spokesman Bob Smith. "The issue with log supply goes back to the 1990s and it is why we curtailed a shift early last year. We are to the point where pine supplies are not affordable. Essentially, we have to go into central California to buy pine logs and when you add transportation costs, that's what drives this decision." In March 2007, the mill eliminated its second shift and the third shift was discontinued in 2000. Even as Dave Schott of Southern Oregon Timber Industry Association was telling Jackson County's natural resources advisory committee that Boise Cascade's sawmill days were numbered Tuesday, word was going out from the company headquarters about the closure. "It's the end of an era," Schott said. "It's the last regular sawmill in Jackson County. In 1947, when my father came out to join the lumber industry, there were close to 40 mills in Jackson and Josephine counties, including three or four in Ashland."....Child Artists Help Save Endangered Species Poloppo is the first company to empower child artists by paying royalties directly on products sold displaying their work. The ingenuity of the children combined with the unique business model of Poloppo provides a fertile ground for creative brilliance. Poloppo is excited to announce the latest opportunity that gives kids a chance to express their creativity and have a voice that will make a difference in helping to save endangered species throughout the world. Poloppo's Fall/Winter 2008 collection from its line of apparel for kids and babies proudly displays art from child artists who have drawn their favorite endangered animal and get to have it featured on high-quality, eco-friendly sweatshirts, t-shirts, dresses, aprons and bibs. According to EndangeredSpecie.com the number one way for kids to step in and help protect endangered species and their habitats is to draw pictures of their favorite endangered creatures and send them to their political representatives. Because of Poloppo's reach and distribution, senators and members of congress are not the only ones who will benefit from the youthful perspective.... Sea lions eat endangered river sturgeon The survival of sturgeon in the Columbia River Gorge along the Washington-Oregon state line is threatened by feasting Steller sea lions. Fish and wildlife officials in the two Pacific Northwest states reportedly have tried to frighten away the almost extinct Steller sea lions, which weigh as much 2,400 pounds, with rubber bullets and underwater noise bombs, The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., reported Wednesday. The gorge is 40 miles east of Portland, Ore. Officials said one of the main facets of the problem is that the sea lions have targeted egg-bearing sturgeon. "These fish are essentially the anchor for the entire species on the West Coast of North America," sturgeon biologist Blaine Parker said. Wildlife experts say stronger measures need to be taken against the sea lions for the sturgeon to survive. "I'm not going to dispute the fact that Stellers need protection, also," Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Executive Director Liz Hamilton said. The predatory Steller sea lions are protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act....No bears for oil By 2050, two-thirds of the world's polar bears will have vanished, as a result of global warming melting their icy habitat, according to scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey. There may no longer be any polar bears at all living in Alaska, their only home in the United States. Still, this stark prediction, revealed in September 2007, after a yearlong review of the impact of melting sea ice on the Alaskan bears, hasn't inspired the Bush administration to list the bear as even a threatened species, much less an endangered one, under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, responsible for listing mammals as threatened or endangered, has been one of the most politically compromised scientific divisions in the Bush administration. It didn't consider extending federal protections to polar bears until it was petitioned, and subsequently sued, to do so by a coalition of environmental groups back in 2005. Now it admits that polar bears are "likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future," and explained recent delays by citing the complexity of the decision: It has never before had to designate a species as threatened because of global warming. But critics say that Fish and Wildlife hasn't made a ruling yet because another agency within the Department of Interior, the Minerals Management Service, is on the verge of handing out oil and gas leases in vast swaths of the polar bears' remaining habitat....Of wolves and willows Don Despain and Roy Renkin aren’t the first scientists to notice how the climate is changing in Yellowstone National Park. But they are among the first to examine the link between climate change and the growth of certain plants, such as the willow bush. For the last couple of years, Despain and Renkin have been studying the remarkable growth of willow bushes along places such as Blacktail Deer Creek in the northwest section of the park. During most of the 1900s, willows here averaged around 2 to 3 feet tall, significantly under their usual height. Today, these willows are back to normal height, up to 8 feet tall. Despain, a retired U.S. Geological Survey scientist in Bozeman, and Renkin, a management biologist with the National Park Service in Yellowstone, aren’t the only ones to ponder the willows’ dramatic recovery. But many scientists connect it to the return of wolves in the mid-1990s rather than to changes in climate. These researchers note the changes in elk behavior since the wolves’ return: Wolf-wary elk spend less time in open riparian areas, choosing safer borders near forests. With fewer elk browsing on streamside willows, the plants have an opportunity to recover. Or so the theory goes. Whatever is causing the willow to recover is also affecting the whole ecology of the region....Obama Pledges Support for Animal Rights Democrat Barack Obama says he won't just be a president for the American people, but the animals too. "What about animal rights?" a woman shouted out during the candidate's town hall meeting outside Las Vegas Wednesday after he discussed issues that relate more to humans, like war, health care and the economy. Obama responded that he cares about animal rights very much, "not only because I have a 9-year-old and 6-year-old who want a dog." He said he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and has been repeatedly endorsed by the Humane Society. "I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other," he said. "And it's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals." Ranchers and Environmentalists to Host Third Annual Summit in Sacramento The California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, a group comprised of 78 diverse ranching and conservation organizations and government agencies in California, are gathering for their third annual summit to be held Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008, at the Holiday Inn at 300 J. St., in Sacramento. The eclectic grouping of agencies and individuals formed the Coalition three years ago, driven by their common goal of protecting both wildlife and the rangelands that shelter them. "Gradually all groups have come to realize that to be successful we need to work together, despite any differences we may have, we are interdependent in protecting what each of us values most," says Kim Delfino, California program director, Defenders of Wildlife. Topics to be discussed range from the scientific to sociological, reflecting the many types of issues encountered in conserving wildlife and rangeland. Scientists from the University of California and the PRBO Conservation Science will address topics such as: Using Birds as Indicators of Conservation Effectiveness; Regenerating Oaks on Grazed Rangelands; and Building Bridges between Public and Private Rangelands. The event will also feature a panel of ranchers for a question and answer session on issues such as the perceptions ranchers have of conservation easements, what drives ranchers to voluntarily enhance wildlife habitat on their property, and the effects of current and future regulations on ranching....Where's the beef? Trailer of meat stolen from San Angelo plant A man claiming to be a driver for Pratte Trucking pulled up at Lone Star Beef in San Angelo last night in a cab marked with PDP logos, spoke to Lone Star personnel and then hooked up to a trailer full of meat and drove off, police said. An hour and a half later, the real driver showed up. Authorities are now hunting for the tractor and trailer, which contained about $100,000 worth of meat. The trailer, a Wabash refrigerator unit marked PDP No. 9 on its rear doors and bearing Oklahoma licence plate 135-4CZ, alone was valued at $40,000, authorities said....Ranch Sells Beef for Dinner, Bones for Surgery Prather Ranch's dry-aged, organic New York steaks will set you back $20 per pound at its upscale stall in San Francisco's Ferry Building farmers market. But even at that price, foodies aren't the company's best market. The most valuable parts of its cows are the inedible parts: pituitary glands, bones, heart muscles and hides. Medical companies covet them for making surgical glue, bone screws, collagen and artificial skin. "In most years, these things are more valuable than the meat," said Jim Rickert, a fifth-generation farmer. "We also think out of an ethical-moral thing. The animal deserves us using it completely." The impetus for producing medical-grade cattle, however, was economic. California is an expensive state for anyone, and it's a particularly challenging place for cattle ranchers. But Rickert and his wife have deep local roots. So rather than move to a cheaper state, the Rickerts built a diversified business that would remain sustainable through fluctuations in the price of meat. And it turns out that the rules for raising cows appropriate for medical use dovetail nicely with organics and a sustainable farming model....Charlie Matteri reaped rewards of hard work Charlie Matteri laughs out loud and punctuates his colorful stories with lots of smiles as he describes his childhood and recalls what it was like growing up on a dairy ranch in Petaluma’s Lakeville district, working under inhospitable conditions in Alaska, and returning to Petaluma where he’s lived for 57 years on his own Lakeville spread. The Lakeville area, south of town and east of the Petaluma River, was a bastion for Italian-born ranchers and dairymen who located there in the early 1900s. Charlie’s parents, Giovanni and Maria, got their start there in 1914 on a 75-acre parcel on Brown’s Lane. The fourth of their five kids, after Katie (Allen), Ann (Broxmeyer), and Elsie (Marsh), and before John, Charlie was born in 1920. Tragedy struck the family when Giovanni Matteri died in 1922, but with everybody pitching in, the family became self-sufficient, allowing Maria to keep the ranch until she married Elvezio Rosselli five years later. “We didn’t have any toys, we didn’t even have an extra nickel to buy a ball, but we were happy,” Charlie explained. The kids attended rural Lakeville School, but Charlie, like many others, spoke only Italian, and didn’t enjoy school much. “How could I learn English? It was like Little Italy around here,” Charlie said, pointing in different directions and reciting the names of neighboring ranches. “There was Vivenzi, Patocchi, Cincera, Tarca, Giannini and many more.”....Ranch History Display at Wings Over Willcox In 1877 the White brothers, Theodore, Jarrett and Thomas, established El Dorado Ranch on Turkey Creek near the base of the Chiricahua Mountains; others followed and within a few years many small ranches existed in the Sulphur Springs Valley. In 1883 John V. and Sumner Vickers began running cattle on the open range in the valley. John, a wealthy Pennsylvanian residing in Tombstone, was involved in the brokerage of cattle range, real estate and mining. Later that year he bought the interests of Thomas and Jarrett White in the El Dorado Ranch. Vickers loaned money for the purchase of cattle and acted as sales agent for the El Dorado and other area ranches. El Dorado prospered and by 1885 had over 6,000 head of cattle. Theodore White and John Vickers were not only cattlemen, they were speculators with a vision of creating a cattle empire. To make their dream a reality, they needed a large number of cattle and a lot of land. In the spring of 1885, White, Vickers, and several small ranchers combined land, cattle and water rights and formed the Chiricahua Cattle Company. The CCC brand was registered and a cattle empire of 1,685,880 acres of public domain with about 15,000 head of cattle and 300 horses was created. The CCC, run by daring men, prospered and by 1889 the herd had increased to 19,520 head of cattle and 375 horses. The CCC dominated the valley from Willcox to Elfrida and soon extended its range into Graham County and other areas of southeastern Arizona. The CCC seemed to be everywhere; it had become one of the largest and best run cattle companies in Arizona Territory.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

TV SHOW "24" GOES GREEN

The Jan. 30 issue of The New Republic has an article entitled Eco-Terror(subscription required). Here are some excerpts:

Fans of the show "24," or anyone who has followed the recent controversy surrounding its portrayal of torture, may have been understandably surprised by a mid-summer announcement by Fox network executives: The series--whose co-creator and executive producer, Joel Surnow, is a Rick Santorum- supporting, friend-of-Ann-Coulter sort of conservative, and whose hero, Jack Bauer, knows his way around a waterboard--was going green. In fact, it would be the first TV series ever to do so. Henceforth, every electroshock session would require the purchase of carbon offsets. Led by executive producer Howard Gordon, whose wife coauthored The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming with Laurie David, high priestess of Hollywood environmentalism, execs promised to reduce the show's carbon footprint during the upcoming seventh season, with a "carbon neutral" finale as the ultimate goal. Surnow, for his part, has remained mum about the venture. "He is tolerating it rather than embracing it," Gordon tells me by phone.[...]For one, the show shoots roughly half of its scenes on location--unlike, say, a medical drama, which mainly adheres to a single interior. This makes "24" something of an energy glutton: Each new venue requires the transportation of crew and equipment, the building (and dismantling) of sets, the rigging of generators to power the voracious lights that illuminate those sets. And, of course, the series' numerous special effects (car chases, explosions, shootouts) are not exactly low-emission--the show's carbon footprint for 2006 was 1,684 metric tons, the annual equivalent of approximately 364 cars or 89 households.[...]Through fuel reductions and the purchase of green power, Posey says, the series has reduced its emissions by 125 metric tons, "the equivalent of taking twenty-seven cars off the road, and like fourteen thousand gallons of oil."....

The artwork accompanying the article shows Jack Bauer in action with the caption being "Jack Bauer saves the environment."

I've been to some team ropings where Kiefer Sutherland competed and he didn't strike me as the green type. Don't tell Twentieth Century Fox Television I said that. They may require some "cowboy offsets".

Farmers fear a barnyard Big Brother After days of parading around her beefy black steer in the dung-scented August heat at the Colorado State Fair, Brandi Calderwood made the final competition. For months, the 16-year-old worked from dawn well past dusk, fitting in the work around school, to feed, train and clean her steer. But just before the last round, when the animals are sold, fair officials disqualified her. They alleged that Brandi had not properly followed a new and controversial rule that required children to register their farms with a federal animal tracking system. After heated words, the Calderwoods were told to leave. A security guard trailed Brandi and her mother, even to the restroom. "Emotionally she went through the wringer and didn't get the honor of showing in the sale. For a 16-year-old, that's a big deal," said Cathy Calderwood, Brandi's mother. A Bush administration initiative, the National Animal Identification System is meant to provide a modern tool for tracking disease outbreaks within 48 hours, whether natural or the work of a bioterrorist. Most farm animals, even exotic ones such as llamas, will eventually be registered. Information will be kept on every farm, ranch or stable. And databases will record every animal movement from birth to slaughterhouse, including trips to the vet and county fairs. But the system is spawning a grass-roots revolt. Family farmers see it as an assault on their way of life by a federal bureaucracy with close ties to industrial agriculture. They point out that they will have to track every animal while vast commercial operations will be allowed to track whole herds. Privacy advocates say the database would create an invasive, detailed electronic record of farmers' activities. Religious farming communities, such as the Amish and Mennonites, fear the system is a manifestation of the Mark of the Beast foretold in the Book of Revelation. And despite the administration's insistence that the program is voluntary, farmers and families, such as the Calderwoods, chafe at the heavy-handed and often mandatory way states have implemented it, sometimes with the help of sheriff's deputies....

Klamath Settlement Group Releases Proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement Representatives of diverse communities in the Klamath Basin, working with federal, state, and county governments, have developed a Proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement to rebuild fisheries, sustain agricultural communities, and resolve other longstanding disputes related to the allocation of water resources. The non-Federal parties released the Proposed Agreement today to inform the public and to provide public review and comment before taking final action. This is an important first step in a collaborative effort to seek solutions with the key stakeholders in the Klamath Basin on an environmental restoration strategy. The Klamath Settlement Group is presently negotiating with PacifiCorp in an effort to reach agreement on the removal of the utility’s four lower dams in the Klamath Basin, referenced as the "Hydropower Agreement." Dam removal is a necessary part of the overall restoration effort, and the Hydropower Agreement along with the Proposed Agreement released today has the potential to provide a comprehensive solution for the Basin. The group is working to finalize both agreements in February....Judge says road ownership must be settled before further action A judge has ruled that the ownership of a road at the center of a dispute between a ranching family and two northern Utah counties must be resolved before the ranchers' accusations are addressed. Fred and Laura Selman and their son, Bret Selman, all of Tremonton, sued Box Elder and Cache counties separately last spring, challenging the counties' declarations that the Rocky Dugway road through their 7,000-acre ranch southeast of Mantua is a Class B road. The lawsuits were the culmination of years of argument between the Selmans and the counties. The Selmans claim the dirt path is a private "livestock driveway" and want to block motorized vehicles that they say disrupt wildlife, their cattle and sheep. The counties contend the road is public. They want it open for recreationists to reach the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The path is also an important link in the James Hansen Shoshone National ATV trail system proposed for northern Utah.... Farmers Told to Prepare for Climate Policies According to the director of the Agriculture Department’s Global Change Program Office, farmers and ranchers must recognize that “at the policy level the question is not whether climate change is occurring. The debate is over what to do about it.” During a session at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 89th annual convention, Bill Hohenstein said in the future all sectors of U.S. economic life, including agriculture, will be affected by policies intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Current federal policy does not impose a mandatory cap on such emissions. But Hohenstein noted that at least nine separate proposals that address the issue are now before Congress, some of which contain caps. National lawmakers give every indication they are moving toward adopting a policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He explained that U.S. farmers and ranchers will surely be called on to reduce emissions on their properties. In response to policy discussions, USDA staff members have developed a method for voluntary calculation of a given farm’s “footprint for greenhouse gas emissions.” Once refined for use by the individual citizen, the system will facilitate a calculation. In a second step, the user may submit the information to the USDA or another federal agency. “Having consistent rules is quite important,” Hohenstein said. “The same rules must apply in Iowa and in any other state.” Voluntary pursuit of reductions is the goal. “USDA will encourage practices that will either reduce greenhouse gas emissions or implement carbon sequestration,” he added....Diverse Groups Protest Federal 'Water Grab' Bill A diverse group of grassroots organizations and business and civic groups has come together to oppose the proposed Federal Clean Water Restoration Act, which many call the Federal Water Grab Bill. The bill would strip state oversight of minor waterways and for the first time give federal bureaucrats control over millions of acres of drainage ditches, seasonal ponds, and small waterways that have no significant impact on larger bodies of water. Opposition to the federal proposal was expressed on December 5 when members of Congress, state legislators, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Property Rights Alliance, Partnership for America, and Americans for American Energy joined the National Farm Bureau Federation, American Property Coalition, and Western Business Roundtable on the steps of the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, DC. "[B]y eliminating one word--navigable--and replacing it with the term 'waters of the United States,' the legislation would give the federal government authority over anything that is wet, as well as any activity on land that could affect water," explained the North Carolina Coalition for Clean Water....Colo. Supreme Court could mean early release for Hayman fire starter A woman who admitted starting the worst wildfire in Colorado’s recorded history could be released within a year after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled prosecutors cannot withdraw their plea agreement. The ruling Monday raises the possiblity that Terry Lynn Barton could be released after serving a 6-year federal prison term for setting the June 2002 Hayman fire, though 4th Judicial District Attorney John Newsome plans to argue Barton should face some state prison time. A judge handed down a 12-year sentence, which is double the maximum 6 year sentence, citing aggravating factors. Barton’s attorneys appealed, arguing the judge shouldn’t have handed down the sentence because he lived near the fire and had to voluntarily evacuate his house. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that only a jury could find aggravating factors and voided the sentence in 2004. Prosecutors then argued that Barton’s appeal of her sentence violated the terms of the plea agreement, which allowed them to withdraw it. The ruling Monday rejected that argument....Court upholds ruling, backs heli-skiing company A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision that allowed a helicopter skiing company to continue operations in the mountains of the Wasatch-Cache and Uinta national forests. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart's 2006 ruling that said the Forest Service had complied with all federal environmental protection laws when it renewed a permit issued to Wasatch Powderbirds in 2005 to fly skiers into the backcountry. Two citizen groups, Save Our Canyons and Utah Environmental Congress, had argued that the heli-ski outfit's activities harmed non-motorized recreation in the high country. The plaintiffs argued the Forest Service had acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in renewing the Powderbirds permit, which the company has held and renewed since 1973. Stewart rejected virtually all the claims against the government....Ruling allows roadless area trails to stay open A federal government decision that will allow back-country trails for Jeeps and other off-highway vehicles to remain open in a national forest in northern California is being seen as a precedent that could have implications for other such disputes now developing, a trail advocate says. The recent decision came from Smith River National Recreation Area Road Management and Route Designation Project on the Six Rivers National Forest, according to Don Amador, the western representative for the Blue Ribbon Coalition. The BRC had joined with Del Norte County in an appeal of the decision that would have closed more than 14 miles of historic off-highway vehicle motorized trails in the Six Rivers National Forest. The appeal deciding officer now has reversed the proposed closure, Amador said. "This decision clearly supports BRC's continuing legal viewpoint that the 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule allows for motorized trails to be designated in roadless areas," he said. "As the route designation process continues on other forests it will be important for local user groups to highlight important OHV routes that already exist in roadless areas so they may be included as meaningful options in the travel management plan."....Beetles May Wipe Out Colo. Lodgepoles Strands of distressed, red pine trees across northern Colorado and the Front Range are a visible testament to the bark beetle infestation that officials said will kill most of the state's lodgepole pine trees within 5 years. The infestation that was first detected in 1996 grew by half-million acres last year, bringing the total number of acres attacked by bark beetles to 1.5 million, state and federal forestry officials said Monday. "This is an unprecedented event," said Rick Cables, Rocky Mountain regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service. The fire potential will increase as trees retain their needles for a couple of years after beetles attack, said Bob Kane, regional entomologist with the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service. When the needles fall, the danger will decrease, and spike again when the trees fall in about 10 years, Kane said. Officials said the infestation has been concentrated in five northern Colorado counties straddling the Continental Divide and has since spread to the Front Range and southern Wyoming.... Scientists Address a Burning Question Climate change is affecting the natural processes on the Earth. It is possible to observe these changes when glaciers shrink in size, trees bloom earlier, growing seasons extend, ice on rivers and lakes freeze later and thaw earlier and permafrost disappears. Researchers, supported by USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) have added one more item to this list, suggesting that increased wildfire activity in the northern Rocky Mountains may be a result of climate change. The western United States has been plagued by wildfires for more than 30 years. In the northern Rocky Mountain region alone, the incidence of wildfires increased by as much as 60 percent. In recent years, expenditures to combat wildfires by governmental agencies have skyrocketed to $1.7 billion. Paul Knapp and Peter Soulé at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Appalachian State University wondered whether shifts in the timing and frequency of major midlatitude storms during the summer influenced the recent fire trends. The scientists studied weather data collected since 1900 from eight climate stations in the northern Rockies. They compared these data with wildfire records from 1940 through 2004. The data revealed that the first major midlatitude storm occurred progressively later each year, and the frequency of the storms diminished over the past century. In addition, the storm frequency exhibited a pronounced decrease beginning in the mid-1980s. This trend of later and fewer midlatitude storms correlated to the increase in wildfires throughout the northern Rockies....This is amazing research folks. I mean, who would have thought that when you have lower humidity and less precipitation the fire risk would actually increase? Thank goodness we have this Federally funded research to tell us what happens when it gets...dry.Bill would stiffen fines for driving on prohibited lands Drive your ATV into a wilderness area or onto other restricted federal land and you could face a stiff fine not only from the federal government but also from the state if a proposed bill clears the Colorado Legislature this year. Get caught hunting while operating an unauthorized motor vehicle on state or federal public land, and your hunting license could be at risk, too, under the bill sponsored in the House by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and in the Senate by Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton. House Bill 1069 would strictly prohibit operating any motor vehicle on state or federal public lands, trails or roads unless there are signs saying vehicles are allowed there or the agency managing the land otherwise authorizes vehicle use there. A violation would be a misdemeanor with a fine of $100. If you’re caught with a vehicle in a federal wilderness area, the state would double the fine to $200. If hunting was involved with the violation, a hunting license would be docked 10 suspension points, or 15 points in a wilderness area. Local law enforcement would have the right to enforce the proposed law, even on federal land. That’s perfectly fine by the federal Bureau of Land Management, which was consulted on the wording of the bill, BLM spokesman James Sample said. A 1976 federal law governing how public land is managed gives states the authority to impose fines on people who violate regulations on federal land, he said.... BLM reviewing comments on Otero Mesa permit The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has received more than 300 e-mails and an unknown number of letters commenting on an environmental assessment for an application for a permit to drill on Otero Mesa. That word today from BLM spokesman Hans Stuart. Today is the last day for comments on the environmental assessment on an application by Harvey E. Yates Company of Roswell to drill a natural gas well on land it leases in the area. Stuart says an environmental impact statement was done between 1998 and 2004. He says it looked at the large picture of the impacts of oil and gas development on the mesa in Otero and Sierra counties. The BLM proposes opening 1,589 acres on the 2 million-acre mesa to drilling. The environmental assessment looks at the Roswell company's specific site.New Mexico wants study of Otero Mesa drilling State officials say an environmental assessment done by the Bureau of Land Management on an application for a permit to drill for natural gas on Otero Mesa is insufficient. Gov. Bill Richardson and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Joanna Prukop are calling on the BLM to do a full environmental impact statement on the application of Harvey E. Yates Co. to drill a natural gas well on leased land. Prukop sent a letter Monday to the BLM, saying the state was concerned that the agency's review of Heyco's application was incomplete and based on outdated information....Scientists Take Complaints About Interference to Hill Two dozen scientists swarmed over Capitol Hill this week mad as vespinae (hornets) at what they say is Bush administration meddling in environmental science. Organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Endangered Species Coalition, the rumpled researchers won time in the offices of more than 20 lawmakers. They are protesting what Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, calls "the systematic dismantling of the Endangered Species Act through the manipulation and suppression of science." On a dash from the House to the Senate, Grifo said the group wants hearings and better congressional oversight of the Interior Department, where Bush appointees control the fate of threatened and endangered species. The scientists say political appointees at Interior, or those who report to them, have been altering their reports recommending "critical habitat" preservation to favor industries whose interests conflict with the findings....Inuits reject US environmentalists' bid to protect polar bear Leaders of Canada's Inuit community opposed efforts by US environmentalists to put polar bears on the endangered species list, warning that hunting restrictions would hurt their livelihood. Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit of Canada, said a petition by environmentalists to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) seeking to protect the Arctic bears is driven more by politics than ecological imperative. "They're doing this in a very public way by using the polar bear for political reasons against the (George W.) Bush administration over greenhouse gas emissions, and as Inuit, we fundamentally disagree with such tactics," said Simon, whose group represents native Canadians living in northern Quebec and the northwest territories of Yukon, and Nunavut in northern Canada. Duane Smith, president of the Canadian branch of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents about 150,000 Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia, said the polar bears in Canada are hunted humanely and responsibly. "Our hunters and guides benefit economically, and we are able to continue with our culture, enjoy the benefits of what we use, and ensure that this is done in a responsible and sustainable manner," he said, adding that in his view the environmentalists' petition was "meant for publicity."....Ranchers, rodeo stars gather to honor special Texans Fort Worth is the big city that acts like a small town. It's not like Dallas or Houston--or even San Antonio. It's a place built on the bedrock of tradition, a place where yesterday is as important as tomorrow. So maybe it's no surprise that the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, which works to preserve Western heritage and honors ranching and rodeo heroes, found a home in Cowtown's historic Stockyards District. Now its annual induction ceremony opening just before the Stock Show and the ranch rodeo is becoming one of the city's traditions. Inductees were rodeo star Trevor Brazile of Decatur, who won three world titles in a single year; horse trainer and cutting horse champ Tom Lyons of Grandview; rodeo clown George Doak of Katy and bull rider turned horse trainer; author Carl Nafzger, a Plainview native who trained two Kentucky Derby winners; and cowboy balladeer, historian and author Don Edwards....

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

FDA Says Cloned Animals Safe As Food Meat and milk from cloned animals are as safe as that from their counterparts bred the old-fashioned way, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday — but sales still won't begin right away. The decision removes the last big U.S. regulatory hurdle to marketing products from cloned livestock, and puts the FDA in concert with recent safety assessments from European food regulators and several other nations. "Meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day," said Dr. Stephen Sundloff, FDA's food safety chief. But the government has asked animal cloning companies to continue a voluntary moratorium on sales for a little longer — not for safety reasons, but marketing ones. USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight called it a transition period for "allowing the marketplace to adjust." He wouldn't say how long the moratorium should continue. "This is about market acceptance," Knight added, who said he would be calling a meeting of industry leaders to determine next steps. Regardless, it still will be years before many foods from cloned animals reach store shelves, for economic reasons: At $10,000 to $20,000 per animal, they're a lot more expensive than ordinary cows, meaning producers likely will use clones' offspring for meat, not the clone itself....Long study led to US cloned food safety decision Cloned animals may often be born deformed and die young but scientists, who have looked at every aspect of their biology to try to explain why, can find no evidence that it would be dangerous to eat them. None of the more than 700 studies reviewed in detail showed any evidence to suggest that milk or organ or muscle tissue from cloned animals could harm someone who ate it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in its final report on the subject on Tuesday. "We have actually done a more in-depth analysis of the meat from cloned animals than has been done ever," said Mark Walton, president of Texas-based farm animal cloning firm ViaGen. In 2002, a National Academy of Sciences panel said there was no reason to believe that meat or milk from cloned animals may be unsafe. But it said the FDA should do a review, and because of the outpouring of opinions and fears about the subject, the agency extended its review for more than a year. Cloned calves have died from respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous, muscular and skeletal abnormalities, as well as because they had abnormal placentas, the FDA noted. And researchers have looked at all the possible causes of these abnormalities -- changes in the genes, in other parts of DNA that affect what genes do and the process of cloning itself....Cloned meat may be safe, but will consumers eat it? While cloning of meat-producing animals was deemed safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, it may be consumers who determine how widely it is used. "The big issue is consumer acceptance. Even if USDA and FDA issue a statement, the final arbiter, whether it will be allowed in the market, is consumer acceptance," said Jacinto Fabiosa, co-director and livestock analyst at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Center in Ames, Iowa. Cloning has been around for years -- Dolly the cloned sheep was born in 1996 -- but the FDA's latest action now brings the technology close to the food supply. "The consumer reaction and the effect on exports markets - is the primary concern," said Mark Boggess, director of animal science for the National Pork Board. Consumers in the United States may be more accepting than those overseas. One example used was the opposition in Europe to crops that have been genetically modified (GMO) to protect against weeds or insects. "I don't think is as likely to be as significant as the GMO stuff has been, but it is real hard to figure out where consumers' reactions are going," said John Urbanchuk, a food economist with the global consulting firm LECG....Don't expect that cloned burger right away Restaurants and supermarkets are girding for their own "Attack of the Clones," and it's no Star Wars episode. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now says meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and other animals are safe for human consumption. For now, food items are not supposed to come directly from cloned animals - but only their offspring. And the food that comes from the offspring can be used for everything from the milkshakes served by restaurants to the steaks sold in supermarkets without any special labeling. But don't expect to find much food derived from clones any time soon at your neighborhood Ralphs supermarket -- or at many other stores and restaurants. It is going to take years to get into the food chain, and many retailers are already dead-set against it. "Our intention is not to accept cloned products from our suppliers," says Meghan Glynn, spokeswoman for Kroger Co., the Cincinnati-based owner of Ralphs, Food4Less and several other chains. Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc., the owner of Vons, said it supports continuing what has been a voluntary ban on the use of cloned animals for food. "We are not looking to offer any cloned products in our stores," said spokesman Brian Dowling. And California Pizza Kitchen, the 229-restaurant chain based in Los Angeles, says it "has no plans to provide our guests with cloned products."....Cloned Meat and Milk Await an Official 'OK' Would you eat meat or drink milk derived from cloned animals? The question—long the stuff of science fiction—is now one that consumers need to consider seriously. The European Food Safety Authority announced Friday that it considers food from clones safe to eat. In the United States, meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to lift a voluntary moratorium issued in 2001 on food products that come from livestock that originated in a petri dish. Companies selling the clones promote the animals' ability to provide superior offspring to livestock breeders, for example. U.S. News tracked down answers to some frequently asked questions about the issue. Is it safe to eat meat or milk from cloned animals? Food from cloned animals is safe for human consumption, the FDA declared last year. According to a supporting paper by scientists in the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, none of the research reviewed had identified "any remarkable nutritionally or toxicologically important differences in the composition of the meat or milk." At the same time, however, the FDA did not give the stamp of approval for the sale of such products to the public. And groups such as the Center for Food Safety and the Union of Concerned Scientists are apprehensive about letting the goods into the food supply; they've called for long-term studies on the health effects in humans who consume the products. New Zealand and Australia, though, have already deemed such products safe, and other countries are expected to do the same....

Lawmakers: Wolves still endangered Five congressmen from the House Natural Resources Committee want to delay a plan to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies from the federal endangered-species list. In a recent letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the congressmen wrote that states "hostile to wolf conservation" could reduce today's 1,500 wolves to "as few as 300" if the predators lose protected status. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which Kempthorne oversees, plans to announce the delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies next month. That would allow Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to host public hunts for the animals. The states already are setting hunting seasons and quotas. Last year, more than 140 wolves were killed in the Northern Rockies by federal and state officials and ranchers in response to wolves' preying on livestock....Horn-tootin' event For 12 years, Lin Cummins of Rochester listened to her husband try to talk an automaker into introducing a truck as cowboys herded cattle down the streets of Detroit. "He thinks he's a cowboy," Cummins said of her husband, Andrew, 62, who runs his own communications company but on Sunday morning helped lead a herd of longhorns to Cobo Center for the launch of the 2009 Dodge Ram pickup. Jason Vines, former communications chief at Chrysler LLC, surprised Andrew Cummins about three months ago with the news that the idea would finally be used. The cattle loped uneventfully down Congress, turning south on Washington to the front of Cobo. There, wearing a brown corduroy Carhartt jacket over his dress shirt and tie, Chrysler Copresident Jim Press introduced the Ram. Some of the 120 longhorns stole a bit of the show from Press, mounting each other as he began to talk. Rancher Wes Sander, 54, of Woodward, Okla., brought the steers from his 3,000-acre ranch in Oklahoma's panhandle. He said they travel to an event or two a month -- even have been movie extras -- and are not easily rattled. Even Air Force flyovers don't faze the animals, Sander said....Cross-Country Ride Ends for Ore. Rancher An Oregon rancher who set off on a cross-country horseback ride seven months ago in search of what's good in America dismounted, feeling encouraged by the spirit and stories of the people he met. Bill Inman's journey ended Sunday. He began his journey June 2 because he felt distress over how the country was being portrayed in news coverage and on TV shows. He rode his 16-year-old thoroughbred-quarter horse Blackie. Among the people he met was a Wyoming deputy sheriff who drove 25 miles through a thunderstorm to bring dinner to him and his wife, and all 17 people of a Colorado town who came out to see him ride off. "Sometimes, I was more intrigued by the stories they were telling than the stories I was telling," Inman said....It's All Trew: Horse had to run its course The early-day printing presses at Harper's Magazine were powered by a vertical shaft running from the basement upward through two floors of the printing rooms above. The shaft turned slowly from 7 a.m. till noon, and from 1 to 6 p.m. each working day. The power came from a sturdy white horse named "The Harper Press Horse" who trudged in a circle on the basement floor turning the shaft. A factory whistle blew at the beginning and end of each shift. Progress arrived and The Harper Press Horse was finally retired to a nice pasture on one of the owner's farms nearby. For a few days retirement and freedom was enjoyed to the fullest. However, the pasture was within hearing distance of the old factory whistle. One morning when the whistle blew the old horse trotted to a large tree in the pasture and began walking a circle just as he had done in the basement of the press. He continued working his shift around the tree each time the whistle blew as long as he could wearing out a path in the grass. This old workhorse had a job to do and was not happy unless allowed to continue.[...]Today's pit-bull tragedies are a far cry from the stories of Old Yeller and Lassie. Texas can be proud of Fred Gipson, born 1908 in Mason, Texas. His book "Old Yeller," published in 1956, was based on a true story about a real dog who saved Fred's grandfather from a rabid wolf. Walt Disney paid $50,000 for the right to make the movie and a sequel called "Savage Sam."....

U.S. to Speed Deportation of Criminals in Jail Federal authorities expect to identify and deport more than 200,000 immigrants this year who are convicted criminals serving time in prisons and jails across the country, the country’s top federal immigration enforcement official said Monday. The effort to speed the deportation of foreign-born criminals is part of a campaign by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to help federal and state prisons reduce the costs of housing immigrants, the official, Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security and head of the agency, said in an interview. In 2007, Ms. Myers said, the agency, known as ICE, brought formal immigration charges against 164,000 immigrants who are behind bars nationwide for crimes committed in this country. Many of those immigrants are still in the United States and are also slated for deportation this year, she said. By comparison, in 2006, the agency identified 64,000 immigrants behind bars, most of whom were deported. The big increase in deportations will place “a significant burden,” on ICE’s detention centers, she said, and on the airplanes, mostly from the Justice Department, used by the agency to fly immigrants back to their home countries. Last year, Congress authorized $200 million for programs to deport immigrant criminals....The Bush Administration Wants To Ban Guns A lot of Americans who believe in the right to own guns were very disappointed this weekend. On Friday, the Bush administration’s Justice Department entered into the fray over the District of Columbia’s 1976 handgun ban by filing a brief to the Supreme Court that effectively supports the ban. The administration pays lip service to the notion that the Second Amendment protects gun ownership as an “individual right,” but their brief leaves the term essentially meaningless. Quotes by the two sides’ lawyers say it all. The District’s acting attorney general, Peter Nickles, happily noted that the Justice Department’s brief was a “somewhat surprising and very favorable development.” Alan Gura, the attorney who will be representing those challenging the ban before the Supreme Court, accused the Bush administration of “basically siding with the District of Columbia” and said that “This is definitely hostile to our position.” As the lead to an article in the Los Angeles Times said Sunday, “gun-control advocates never expected to get a boost from the Bush administration.” As probably the most prominent Second Amendment law professor in the country privately confided in me, “If the Supreme Court accepts the solicitor general’s interpretation, the chances of getting the D.C. gun ban struck down are bleak.” The Department of Justice argument can be boiled down pretty easily. Its lawyers claim that since the government bans machine guns, it should also be able to ban handguns. After all, they reason, people can still own rifles and shotguns for protection, even if they have to be stored locked up. The Justice Department even seems to accept that trigger locks are not really that much of a burden, and that the locks “can properly be interpreted” as not interfering with using guns for self-protection. Yet, even if gun locks do interfere with self-defense, DOJ believes the regulations should be allowed, as long as the District of Columbia government thinks it has a good reason[...]The biggest problem is the standard used for evaluating the constitutionality of regulations. The DOJ is asking that a different, much weaker standard be used for the Second Amendment than the courts demands for other “individual rights” such as speech, unreasonable searches and seizures, imprisonment without trial, and drawing and quartering people.[...]The question is what constitutes “reasonable” regulation. The DOJ brief argues that if the DC government says gun control is important for public safety, it should be allowed by the courts. What the appeals court argued is that gun regulations not only need to be reasonable, they need to withstand “strict scrutiny” – a test that ensures the regulations are narrowly tailored to achieve the desired goal. Perhaps the Justice Department’s position isn’t too surprising. Like any other government agency, it has a hard time giving up its authority. The Justice Department’s bias can been seen in that it finds it necessary to raise the specter of machine guns 10 times when evaluating a law that bans handguns....US drafting plan to allow government access to any email or Web search National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today. Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “will be a walk in the park compared to this,” McConnell said. “this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.” The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site. McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity. "Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the autority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search," author Lawrence Wright pens. “Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation, he said," Wright adds. The infrastructure to tap into Americans' email and web search history may already be in place. In November, a former technician at AT&T alleged that the telecom forwarded virtually all of its Internet traffic into a "secret room" to facilitate government spying....Spychief Wants to Tap Into Cyberspace Spychief Mike McConnell is drafting a plan to protect America’s cyberspace that will raise privacy issues and make the current debate over surveillance law look like “a walk in the park,” McConnell tells The New Yorker in the issue set to hit newsstands Monday. “This is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.” At issue, McConnell acknowledges, is that in order to accomplish his plan, the government must have the ability to read all the information crossing the Internet in the United States in order to protect it from abuse. Congressional aides tell The Journal that they, too, are also anticipating a fight over civil liberties that will rival the battles over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Part of the lawmakers’ ire, they have said, is the paltry information the administration has provided. The cyberspace security initiative was first reported in September by The Baltimore Sun, and some congressional aides say that lawmakers have still learned more from the media than they did from the few Top Secret briefings they have received hours before the administration requested money in November to jump start the program. Men in Mexican Military Uniforms Seen Crossing Border The Mexican military is crossing the border into the U.S. That's according to records NEWSCHANNEL 5 obtained using the Freedom of Information Act. The 29-page document shows the Department of Homeland Security is tracking the occurrences. It includes sightings of men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The document states Mexican government personnel crossed the border more than 250 times since 1996. Some of that activity happened in the Rio Grande Valley. We spoke to farmer and rancher Joe Aguilar. He tells us the threat is too close....